This paper aims to describe how a commercially successful innovation occurs
with the altering of the existing competitive structure in a market under
environmental and competitive pressures. I study the history of the laundry
detergent market in Japan and elucidate the manner in which Kao accomplished
an innovation and increased their market share during the late 1980s. Kao
introduced their new detergent Attack through a biotechnological innovation and
dramatically changed the competitive structure to their advantage. The
innovations introduced were of two kinds 1) fermentation engineering
technologies to improve the cleaning performance of detergents by using
alkaline cellulase, and 2) concentration of detergents to four times their earlier
strength through changes in their powder processing technologies. This
historical innovation that occurred in the laundry detergent market in Japan has
a contemporary implication because combining firms’ activities and
environmental sustainability has been one of the most crucial topics over recent
years.